In their book Manufacturing Consent, Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky distinguished between two kinds of victims: the worthy victims and the unworthy victims. The “worthy victims” are the victims (real and alleged) of leaders on the U.S. enemies list, such as Bashar al-Assad. The “unworthy victims” are those of the U.S. and its client states,…
When US President Donald Trump fired a barrage of Tomahawk missiles at Syrian government targets last week, it was a good day for defense contractors, at least. In the aftermath of the strike, which Trump claimed was in retaliation for an alleged chemical attack by the Syrian government, stocks in Tomahawk missile manufacturer Raytheon surged….
The State Department’s new proposal mandating the disclosure of a visa applicant’s social media accounts, email addresses, and phone numbers is certainly Orwellian, but people who are offended by this have to get over it because there’s nothing that they can do other than stay away from the US and any other country that decides…
Even in the context of a post-truth geopolitical environment run amok, Russian President Vladimir Putin telling his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani over the phone that any further Western strikes against Syria may “lead to chaos in international relations” should at least be seen for what it is; a massive understatement. According to the Kremlin, Putin…
Under President Donald Trump, the US has basically eliminated the only real international authority the UN used to have. Here is how this was done: The equivalent, in international law, to a domestic-law crime involving murder, rape, and theft, is an international invasion that’s purely for aggressive purposes and not at all authentically a defensive…
The April 14 missile attacks on Syria were a politically-motivated fireworks display that were largely designed to silence Trump’s critics. The attacks– which were coordinated with Moscow– did not kill any Russian, Syrian, Iranian or Hezbollah combat troops. They did not kill any Syrian civilians. They did not impede the Syrian Army’s ongoing military offensive…
